Political

Oleg Deripaska and Conservative hypocrisy

Remember Oleg Deripaska? The Russian oligarch who Peter Mandelson met? With the result that many leading Conservatives went on record criticising Mandelson for meeting him, painting him as a rather unsavoury character?

For example, this is what Conservative MP Hugo Swire said:

You will be aware of the continuing press reports surrounding the relationship between the current Secretary of State for Business when he was EU Trade Commissioner and Mr Oleg Deripaska, who I understand is banned from the US following an FBI inquiry into his past business activities. [Daily Telegraph]

Mite unfortunate really then isn’t it that George Osborne and Andrew Feldman (Conservative Chief Executive) both went for dinner with Oleg Deripaska on his yacht then, isn’t it?

Criticising Mandelson for not coming clean on his links with Deripaska, and questioning whether there was any conflict of interest, all seems to me quite reasonable. But if – as some Conservatives did – you’re going to go further and also to criticise the meetings on the basis that Deripaska has been banned from the US, and is an unsavoury character who shouldn’t be met, that line of criticism should apply just as much to George Osborne.

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